1st Annual Reddington Family Reunion

As a family we decided to start our own reunion this year.  My sister Crystal's inlaws do a service project/family reunion every year so we kind of copied them.  It was decided to roof my parents house for our service project and then go to Dierkies Lake for the family reunion the next day.  On June 29th my sisters all drove to Rupert to start work on my parents roof.  I had to work that day so I did not join them until 5:30 pm.  They started work at 1pm and were still hard at work at 6pm.  They did come down for dinner and then got back up to work until it was too dark to work anymore.  I took my boys home at 8 pm, but left Kyle over there working.  The next morning we got up and headed over to Grandma and Poppa's house for breakfast.  After breakfast I joined my family up on the roof to finish up.  We got a system going and fell into a rhythm.  I came down at 10 to feed Nate and they finished up before I had a chance to go back up.  Afterwards we packed up and headed to Dierkies Lake, outside of Twin Falls, for swimming and a picnic.  It was a fun day with family.  The boys really enjoyed playing with their cousins.  However, my parents discovered that babysitting three 2 year olds is like having triplets with different mothers.  Jon, Shayne, and Carter our nine months apart in age and all two.  Just wait until they are teenagers together and really drive us crazy.  Oh well.  It was great to hang out with my family and hopefully we can continue getting together every year.

Nate at Dierkies Lake

Wesley, Grandma, Jon, and Shayne at the picnic

Catherine, Hallie, and Carter at the picnic.

Kyle fell asleep with Nate.

Wesley sitting on Poppa. (Good thing my dad is such a good sport.)

Welcome Home Grandma & Grandpa Meyers

Kyle's parents have been in Sri Lanka for the last 18 months on a mission.  On June 25th they traveled back to Idaho.  I had the day off so we headed to Boise to meet them at the airport.  Their flight did not arrive in Boise until 7 in the evening.  We went earlier and did a little comparision pricing.  Then we spent a little bit of time at Kyle's brother's house in Star, ID.  At 6:30 pm we left Jason's house to go to the Boise airport.  Kyle's sister, Mandy, made a large banner that said, "Welcome Home" for the grandkids to hide behind and then run out from behind to give Grandma and Grandpa Meyers hugs.  The kids seemed pretty excited to do this.  Wesley and Jon did not really understand it, but their cousins enthusiasm was contagious.  Once they saw Grandma and Grandpa Meyers they ran to them and gave them a group hug.  After we picked up their bags we went out to eat at Applebees.  Afterward we headed home, since I had to work the next day.  It was a long day and we did not get home until after 11pm.  We are happy Kyle's parents are back home.

Waiting at the airport.



Hiding behind the sign (you can see their little feet at the bottom)

Running to hug Grandma and Grandpa Meyers

4 months old

Nathaniel is now four months old.  He is getting so big and growing up so fast.  He loves to smile and laugh.  He does not always laugh out loud though.  He tends to laugh silently unless he thinks you are hysterical.  He loves people to talk to him and thinks kisses are funny.  He tries to sit up by himself and sometime succeeds.  Nate just started rice cereal this weekend.  The first night he was very unsure of the whole process, however last night he loved it and was upset when I didn't have anymore.  He had a doctor's appointment today.  So I took Nate and Jon to the doctors office.  Kyle asked the boys if either one of them wanted to accompany me and Nate and Jon said he did.  I did not understand why Jon would want to go until we got to the doctors office.  When the nurse called us back, the first thing Jon said was, "Nate gets shots and I get a sucker."  Ding-ding-ding!!!  Jon wanted a sucker.  Nate is now 26 inches long (90th percentile) and 12 lbs 8 ounces (25th percentile).  So still long and skinny.  He is doing really well and got two shots and an oral immunization.  Jon did get his sucker after the doctor saw Nate. 

Wesley's Talk

Wesley is now in primary and as part of primary he gets to participate in opening exercises.  The second week of January he gave the scripture. The third week of March he gave the prayer.  May 20th he got to give the talk.  We are not even halfway through the year yet and Wesley has already done every part of opening exercises.  He was so excited to give his talk.  His topic was baptism so he talked about flying to Virginia to see his cousin Stephen get baptized.  He did an amazing job considering I wrote the talk and am not very good at using small words.  Poppa, Dad and Grandma all got to come listen to Wesley's talk.  Poppa thought it was funny when Wesley would use words such as righteousness.  I guess my children have no choice but to use big words with me as their mom.  I am very proud of my son for being able to do all of these things in Primary without any meltdowns or jibberish.  He speaks clearly for everyone to hear him and doesn't mind being in front of the group.  I love my little boy.

Easter

Easter this year was just us and my parents.  In the past one or two of my sisters and their families joined us, but not this year.  So we colored eggs on Saturday evening at our house instead of Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Prior to coloring eggs the Easter Bunny came to visit the boys.  One of our neighbors dresses up as the Easter Bunny each year and stops by to give the boys a bag of jelly beans.  The boys enjoy it even though I think said neighbor is crazy.  The boys were super excited to color eggs and each got to color a few eggs.  That night I went over to hide eggs at Grandma and Poppa's house so it would be ready for after church.  On Sunday morning the boys got up and Wes and Jon got clothes for Easter.  Nate didn't get any clothes because he has more than enough already.  Then we went to church.  The boys really enjoyed learning about Easter.  Wesley came home telling us how he learned that Jesus loves us and is alive again.  I really felt like he felt the meaning of Easter.  We changed and headed to Grandma and Poppa's house.  The boys went straight downstairs and found their eggs.  They both got a lot of candy and a few dollars.  We then had Easter dinner consisting of turkey and mashed potatoes.  Instead of Kyle's choice of ham and funeral potatoes.  I am not a fan of ham.  It was a fun day with the boys.

The big 4!!!

Wesley is finally four.  He has been talking about turning four all year long.  He has memorized his birthday so he could know when it was getting close.  He has also had a wish list a mile long that he changed every few days just to throw us off.  It finally came on April 17, 2012.  He was sick both of the days prior to his birthday and we were hoping he would feel better on his birthday.  When he got up that morning he seemed to be doing good and we opened his presents from his parents and brothers.  He got baseball stuff from us since he informed us that was his favorite sport that he loves to play.  So we got him and nice tee and glove and some practice balls so he can learn how to hit, throw, and catch.  He also got a base set so he can set up the bases and run around them.  Wes and Nate both had doctors appointments that day so our schedule was a little screwy.  At 11 I made Jon take a nap so Wes was the only one awake at that time.  I was trying to make his cake and Wes told me his stomach hurt really bad.  At which point I discovered he was not feeling better.  In fact he was quite sick on his birthday.  We went to the doctor for his Well Child Checkup.  We have been preparing him for this for a month since he does not like suprises.  He did really well, but was very insistent that he not get any shots this time.  His stats are 41 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile) and 32 lbs (25th percentile).  He let the nurse take his blood pressure and let the doctor look at his ears and eyes well.  When the doctor put the stethoscope on his stomach Wesley started giggling and could not stop.  Wesley was giggling so hard and wiggling so much I thought he was going to fall off the table.  Then we went home and I made Wes and Jon take naps.  Jon was starting to run a fever and Wes had thrown up a few times, so I thought it would do them so good.  We had planned on going out for pizza, but with the way the boys were doing we ordered in instead.  My parents and sister Jennifer came over to celebrate with us.  We had pizza and then played games while waiting for my parents to finish a track meet and join us.  We then opened presents.  Wesley got some really great gifts including a V-Reader.  We then ate his "knight" cake.  I really didn't know what he meant when he said a "knight" cake so I made a sword and shield and put a horse next to it for decoration.  It seemed to work.  It was not exactly the day we had planned, and I am sure Wes would have prefered to not be sick, but it turned out well.

2 Months Old!

Nathaniel is two months old today.  He is an adorable little boy.  He smiles and holds his head up and will even try to laugh at us.  Today was his 2 month well baby appointment with the doctor.  He and Wesley both got to go to the doctor, although only Nathaniel had to get shots today.  Nate got three shots and one oral immunization (which is new for us).  Nathaniel weighed in at 10 lbs 4 oz (10th percentile) and 24 inches long (90th percentile) with a head circumference of 15 inches (10th percentile).  He is doing really well and is no longer throwing up after each feeding.  He does turn his head to one side more than the other so the doctor would like us to take him to physical therapy to help that.  It is no big deal and you treat for cosmetic reasons not for health issues.  We will keep everyone updated on how he is doing.  The doctor said it will just be some exercises/stretching that we will need to do with him to loosen up the other side.